What’s it like having children? This question propels parents into an emotionally mixed response. The answer can vary depending on what time of day it is, what day of the week it is, and how old the children are. I wonder, though, has negativity become a parent’s first response? Ray Romano jokingly said, “Having children is like living in a frat house—nobody sleeps, everything’s broken, and there’s a lot of throwing up.”¹ As a parent, it’s hard not to laugh at that joke, because there is much truth to it.

However, as Christian parents and as a church, our speech ought to be propelled by godly positivity and gracious optimism. But why? Because that’s how God sees and talks about children in the Bible. My wife and I were driving recently when she started sharing this idea of how God speaks about kids in Scripture and my attitude was colossally edified. I was able to see my kids in a new light. Listen to what God says about children in His Word.

Children Are God’s Desire

The very idea of children and the desire to perpetuate the ongoing birth of children to the corners of the world was God’s idea. Adam and Eve did not get together and decide to create children; that was all God! He instructed our first parents in Genesis 1:28 to “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” And this idea has lived on through the existence of every human culture and settlement since creation.

Thus, Genesis teaches us that children are something to look forward to in every place and time in existence. God looked forward and still looks forward to more image bearers populating the earth and giving Him glory. God imagines children in every country as part of the very fabric of human existence.

How shall we speak of children then? As desirable! In the same way we look forward to dessert at the end of the week, or a nice warm bath, so God looked forward to image bearing children on His earth. Therefore, let us speak about children as the good and desirable gift of God.

Children Are a Blessing

God declares (in Psalm 127:3) that children are a heritage and a reward from the Lord. That is to say children are to be viewed in the same way that we would view receiving an awesome inheritance from a loved one. Wow, Uncle Jeffrey left me fifty million dollars—incredible! Likewise, our children are amazing blessings of inheritance from the Lord; they are rewards!

But how often do we speak of them as demands or burdens? Now, surely children do bring along with them difficulties, but the way God speaks about them encourages us to see and speak of them predominately as a blessing. How much would a deceased relative appreciate negative comments about a two million dollar inheritance? How much more would God have us speak of our children as incalculable gifts!

Children Are a Benefit

Children are the gift that keeps on giving. God reveals further (in Psalm 127:4–5) that children are “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior” and “Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!” Children bring their own gifts and strengths to families that weren’t there before. Often children may be thought of as financial burdens or energy suckers, but they also bring blessings to the family, and in the case of Psalm 127:4–5, they bring strength and protection against one’s enemies.²

Therefore, let us speak of children, not as burdens, but as additions to a house. Children are like another room that expands the house and beautifies it further. Sure additions are work and can be stressful when they don’t function properly. But how great is their benefit to the rest of the home.

What God Calls Us

One of the biggest blessings of being a Christian is being called a child of God. John says (1 John 3:1), “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” The title “child of God” is a privilege beyond compare and God delights to speak it over His children in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore be imitators of God (Eph. 5:1) in our speech about children and bask in the way He speaks about us as His children!